Let's Get to Work Again

After the two-months break, I'm feeling much more rejuvenated! The second phase of the translations will begin tomorrow.

This time I'm getting to those translations with the skills of a 10-month German beginner instead of a 4-month German beginner. I'll be revamping some of the earliest translations and aim to eliminate the italics in them, with any context I can find (including in the comments) cited.

I'll also be having a go at translating the introduction to 'Messer', written by the late Gert Hof, and the final mini-biographical notes at the end of the book, giving the entire text a more permanent sense of completion.

There will be no specific point where this phase might 'end' - the more I learn, the more I'll be able to better my translations. It'll also be somewhat slower and the differences might be minimal, but every little bit helps.

So let's get to it again. I'm back.

Till Lindemann's 'Messer' - Translation Project Complete

Yep, you read that right. it's over. I've done it. All fifty-four poems of 'Messer', translated and collected and posted to the best of my ability. For an eighteen-year old student who started learning German from scratch in October 2011 and hasn't been into Rammstein for anywhere near as long as many fans, and for a single-person project, I don't reckon this is too bad at all.

It wasn't easy, I won't lie. It's not perfect, either, and I won't claim that it is. Till's prose was at points too much for a beginner like myself to handle, hence the abundant italics and confused notes at the bottom asking what in the world he meant. Till's fondness of using archaic words and things that he felt like making up for the hell of it... admirable and enviable skill for a writer, but damn it if it's not hard to translate! x_x Oh, all those references I used... my well-worn dictionary, other literary works, Rammstein lyrics, dict.cc, in the case of 'Sautod' trying to learn Waidmannssprache to understand what I was trying to translate, searching archaic dictionaries, cross-referencing with other translations floating around ('Ich Will Meer' had me looking up a French translation and translating back from that when it comes to the 'seasonal flowers' line - being a polyglot helps! x.x)... yes, it was hard. But it was worth it. It's done wonders for my German and my comprehension of the ethereal being that is Till Lindemann.

The translation project will keep getting sporadic updates, however. My goal is to eliminate all italics in all poems eventually, even the incomprehensible ones. Any ties or links I can find with Rammstein songs/lyrics or literary works, I will also mention in notes. I also plan to rework some of the translations that I'm not too happy with. So I've still got quite a bit to do, and it's not the last that you've seen of me, that's for sure! XD

I've got years to go yet before I can 'feel' German as intimately as native Germans do. It took me ten years of learning English as a second language and living in England for years to get to that level, and I'm still learning. So there will be a lot of nuances that I doubtless missed - plus, it's poetry. Poetry thrives on alternate interpretations. This blog simply aims to be the easiest-to-reach collection of every Messer poem translated in understandable and annotated form (aka not Google Translate) without the need for fellow fans to search around continuously.

Lastly, if you haven't done so while keeping up with the translations - please buy the actual book as well! My translations cannot do the real poems and their illustrations justice, no, not in the slightest. You cannot get a feel for Till's soul as intimately without an actual copy of 'Messer' in hand. My own copy is quite battered now and filled with annotations from those hours of translating - but it's one of my most prized possessions. XD

Thank you for keeping up with me, the many readers out there. Thank you for the keyhole to your soul, Mr. Lindemann. Until more updates - I'll sign off for the time being. *blows kiss*

-Kimbk/liebestraume's translation project of Messer, 17th Feb 2012 - 13th June 2012-

Till Lindemann's 'Messer' - Mid-Progress Thoughts

So as of 19th April and a little over two months since I began this project, twenty poems out of Till's fifty-two listed in 'Messer' are left. I've done over half of them, and as of April I have six months' worth of German language experience.

Not bad, I say. Not bad.

I don't know who is reading all of those poems, but I know links come from Deviantart, Facebook and other sites that link here. No comments have been made for any of my translations yet, though, and I would still appreciate some because I'm still so much of an amateur. But it's okay. I'd like to thank everyone for reading and appreciating Till Lindemann's beautiful poems.

My skills are very lacking, but still lots of people visit this blog and read my translations. That makes me very happy.

After I'm finished with the entire set, I think I may go back through some of the translations and re-translate/update them. As I discovered throughout the process of going through those poems, quite a lot of them can be linked to Rammstein songs as well (whether entire lines of poems making it into lyrics, or thematically similar), and I believe I might make a little note of those references too. And the rhyme scheme. I have a lot of work to do in that sense.

So, thank you very much, again. I will do my best.

So Till Lindemann Came All Over Me

Well okay not in the porny sense he didn't. But hear me out.

Crossposted review of the 29th Feb 2012 performance of Rammstein's Made In Germany 1995-2011 Tour. I was in front row, right against the barrier, in front of Richard.

More below the cut. Dare you go forward? Yes. Yes you do. Clicky.

Goodbye, Sweet Sixteen

My birthday is tomorrow, the eighteenth of June. In fact, it's less than two hours away.

Well, congratulations, Kimby. What probably should have been your most lively year, and the most carefree one, was actually one riddled with alternating struggles and rays of happiness. You lived half of your sixteenth year on your own, surviving and being free for the first time in your life, and found a wonderful sweetheart who will take care of you whenever you're in need. Also part of your experience was losing loved ones - your parents, in a way, your previous friends, adjusting to an all-new environment forty minutes away by bus. Commuting two hours each day, forwards and back, to college.

So what has this year taught me?

Love. Learning to cope. That there are truly accepting people in this world. That sometimes, it's best to let it all out and cry.

And I survived. You're on your own now, Kimby, for the most part. But don't worry; friends and loves will take care of you, and you don't have to be unwanted and alone any more. You've earned all of this throughout the whole year. And that, in its entirety, is fair enough gift for a young girl to treasure all her life.

Aequam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem - 'remember when life's path is steep to keep your mind even'. And this will be a lesson to keep with you all your life.

You did well, girl. You did well.